I say a thing, it must at once be done.

What fear you? think you this a lion's den? Why, 't is a palace; where the truly wise Anticipate the Prophet's paradise.

LXXXII.

"You fool! I tell you no one means you harm."
"So much the better," Juan said, " for them;
Else they shall feel the weight of this my arm,
Which is not quite so light as you may deem.
I yield thus far; but soon will break the charm
If any take me for that which I seem:
So that I trust for every body's sake,
That this disguise may lead to no mistake."

LXXXIII.

"Blockhead! come on, and see," quoth Baba; while Don Juan, turning to his comrade, who

Though somewhat grieved, could scarce forbear a smile

Upon the metamorphosis in view,

"Farewell!" they mutually exclaim'd: “ this soil
Seems fertile in adventures strange and new;
One's turn'd half Mussulman, and one a maid,
By this old black enchanter's unsought aid.

LXXXIV.

"Farewell!" said Juan: "should we meet no more, I wish you a good appetite."- "Farewell!" Replied the other; "though it grieves me sore; When we next meet, we'll have a tale to tell:

We needs must follow when Fate puts from shore. Keep your good name; though Eve herself once

fell."

[carry me,

Nay," quoth the maid, "the Sultan's self shan't Unless his highness promises to marry me."

LXXXV.

And thus they parted, each by separate doors;
Baba led Juan onward room by room
Through glittering galleries, and o'er marble floors,
Till a gigantic portal through the gloom,
Haughty and huge, along the distance lowers;
And wafted far arose a rich perfume:

It seem'd as though they came upon a shrine,
For all was vast, still, fragrant, and divine.

LXXXVI.

The giant door was broad, and bright, and high, Of gilded bronze, and carved in curious guise; Warriors thereon were battling furiously;

Here stalks the victor, there the vanquish'd lies; There captives led in triumph droop the eye, And in perspective many a squadron flies: It seems the work of times before the line Of Rome transplanted fell with Constantine.

LXXXVII.

This massy portal stood at the wide close
Of a huge hall, and on its either side
Two little dwarfs, the least you could suppose,
Were sate, like ugly imps, as if allied

In mockery to the enormous gate which rose
O'er them in almost pyramidic pride:

The gate so splendid was in all its features, (1)
You never thought about those little creatures,

LXXXVIII.

Until you nearly trod on thein, and then
You started back in horror to survey
The wondrous hideousness of those small men,
Whose colour was not black, nor white, nor grey,
But an extraneous mixture, which no pen

Can trace, although perhaps the pencil may; They were mis-shapen pigmies, deaf and dumbMonsters, who cost a no less monstrous sum.

LXXXIX.

Their duty was— for they were strong, and though They look'd so little, did strong things at timesTo ope this door, which they could really do,

The hinges being as smooth as Rogers' rhymes; And now and then, with tough strings of the bow, As is the custom of those Eastern climes,

To give some rebel Pacha a cravat ;
For mutes are generally used for that.

(1) Features of a gate-a ministerial metaphor: "the feature upon which this question hinges." See the "Fudge Family," or hear Castlereagh.[Phil. Fudge, in his letter to Lord Castlereagh, says:

"As thou would'st say, my guide and teacher

In these gay metaphoric fringes,

I now embark into the feature

On which this letter chiefly hinges."

The note adds, "verbatim from one of the noble Viscount's speeches : And now, sir, I must embark into the feature on which this question chiefly hinges."- Fudge Family, p. 14.]

XC.

They spoke by signs-that is, not spoke at all;
And looking like two incubi, they glared
As Baba with his fingers made them fall

To heaving back the portal folds it scared
Juan a moment, as this pair so small,

With shrinking serpent optics on him stared;
It was as if their little looks could poison
Or fascinate whome'er they fix'd their eyes on.

XCI.

Before they enter'd, Baba paused to hint
To Juan some slight lessons as his guide:
"If you could just contrive," he said, "to stint
That somewhat manly majesty of stride,

[in't)

'Twould be as well, and, — (though there's not much

To swing a little less from side to side, Which has at times an aspect of the oddest ;And also could you look a little modest,

XCII.

""Twould be convenient; for these mutes have eyes Like needles, which may pierce those petticoats; And if they should discover your disguise,

You know how near us the deep Bosphorus floats And you and I may chance, ere morning rise, To find our way to Marmora without boats, Stitch'd in sacks up a mode of navigation A good deal practised here upon occasion." (1)

;

(1) A few years ago the wife of Muchtar Pacha complained to his father of his son's supposed infidelity: he asked with whom, and she had the barbarity to give in a list of the twelve handsomest women in Yanina

XCIII.

With this encouragement, he led the way
Into a room still nobler than the last;
A rich confusion form'd a disarray

In such sort, that the eye along it cast
Could hardly carry any thing away,

Object on object flash'd so bright and fast; A dazzling mass of gems, and gold, and glitter, Magnificently mingled in a litter.

XCIV.

Wealth had done wonders-taste not much; such Occur in Orient palaces, and even

[things

In the more chasten'd domes of Western kings (Of which I have also seen some six or seven) Where I can't say or gold or diamond flings

Great lustre, there is much to be forgiven; Groups of bad statues, tables, chairs, and pictures, On which I cannot pause to make my strictures.

XCV.

In this imperial hall, at distance lay

and there reclined

Under a canopy,
Quite in a confidential queenly way, (1)

A lady; Baba stopp'd, and kneeling sign'd

They were seized, fastened up in sacks, and drowned in the lake the same night. One of the guards who was present informed me, that not one of the victims uttered a cry, or showed a symptom of terror at so sudden a "wrench from all we know, from all we love." [See antè, Vol. IX. pp. 145. 200.]

(1) ["On a sofa, raised three steps, and covered with fine Persian carpets, sat the kiyàya's lady, leaning on cushions of white satin, embroidered," &c. LADY M. W. MONTAGU.]